THE CLEANLY JAPS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2389, 14 December 1899, Page 56

THE CLEANLY JAPS.

In the neighbourhood of Matsumoto an off day for rest can nowhere 'be more agreeably spent then at the delightful thermal springs of Asama no Yu. Indeed, I am free to own that such places, with their variety of situation and stylej are amongst i the pleasantest accessories to mountaineerj ing in Central Japan. Whatever may be the character of the establishment that has grown up round these natural hot baths, whose waters are credited with such marvellous therapeutic powers by the simple country folk who flock to them, it is certainly very refreshing, after some days' hard scrambling, to spend a quiet week end and relax one's stiffened limbs in the grateful warmth of the "onsen," the sulphur spring. Sometimes, as here, one finds accommodation at a comfortable inn on the outskirts of a busy plain. Sometimes it is a group of chalets in the heart of the Alfis

where a secluded valley is shut in by pre* cipitous tree-clad mountain sides. Or, more quaint and curious still, you find yourself the first foreign traveller sharing a rude shanty with a party of rustics far up the side of some tall peak, where the customs of the bathers are primitive in the extreme, yet you will find more decorum in these out-of-the-world yuba (bath houses) of Orenge San than at Leukerbad and elsewhere in "civilised .Europe." The Japanese value baths to a most extraordinary extent. In one out-of-the-way place I know of they will stay in for a month at a time, and sit with large stones on the knees to keep them from floating or "turn- , ing turtle" in their sleep.* The-, caretaker-., of this establishment, a cheery*' oK fe'oy of 73 summers, stops in the water practically the whole winter through. \ At another spot the villagers apologised to a friend of mine for being what they called "so>" dirty ; " " for," they said, " you see, it is the summer time, and we are too busy, to bathe more than- twice a day." "How "often; then, 'do you bathe in winter? " inquired my friend. " Oh, , we .have less todo then, and can have four or five -baths daily* and the children get into' the waterwhenever, they , feel- cold ! " — Selection " from. " The Land of the Rising Fun," in., the Fireside.